Obituary: Robin B. Dill, Longtime Tunneling, Trenchless Engineer
Robin B. Dill, 70, of Winchester, Massachusetts, died Dec. 20, 2025, after a brief illness.
Rob was born in San Antonio, Texas to David and Sonia (Lemish) Dill. In his early years, he lived in upstate New York after moving from Monterrey, Mexico. His father worked there as a geologist. Rob received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (cum laude) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also received a Master of Geotechnical Engineering from the University of California-Berkeley.
For the whole of his professional life, Rob was an engineer. He worked first at the environmental and engineering firm of Haley & Aldrich. Until his passing, he served as a lead geotechnical engineer and vice president of the Water Business Line and Americas Tunnel Practice at the global engineering firm AECOM.
Rob’s work involved travel to many locations worldwide, including Cairo, Egypt. He and his family lived there for over three years. Rob was a nationally known and highly respected civil engineer and member of several professional organizations. As an AECOM colleague said, “he could grasp the root of the problem at first glance.”
He worked on both water and transportation tunneling and trenchless projects of all kinds from soft ground to hard rock. This included a wide variety of technologies (tunnel boring machine (TBM), pipe jacking, microtunneling and horizontal directional drilling (HDD).
He has served an active member of the Design-Build Institute of America, including its national Civil Infrastructure Committee. Rob was president of the New England Chapter of DBIA in 2005. He was also a co-author of Chapter 8 entitled “Subsurface Investigations” for the textbook Design-Build, Subsurface Projects, published in 2010.
Rob is survived by his wife of 42 years, Pamela Barnes Dill of Winchester, Massachusetts; daughter, Christina Dill Schenk and her husband Brian of Atlanta, Georgia, and two grandchildren, Catherine and James; brother Alexander Dill and his wife, Jessica Kandel of Chicago, Illinois and their two children, James and Anthea. He is also survived by his brother-in-law, Robert Barnes and his wife, Roberta Kelly of Newton, New Jersey.
In addition to Rob’s deep commitment to his loving family, he had two passions that jointly contributed to delicious gatherings with family and friends. An avid fisherman and open water diver, spanning the Atlantic to the Red Sea, Rob famously provided the main course – lobster – for his wedding in Gloucester. Rob was also an avid gardener, and every summer he delivered fresh vegetables to the dinner table for his family and many beloved friends.
A celebration of life will be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Oceana Organization.
